Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace incidents force NASCAR into clarifying track positioning rules during cautions

NASCAR recently updated the rules and procedures for determining drivers' positions in the running order following an incident that blocks the track and requires drivers to slow down or stop. These changes were made after controversial decisions, involving Bubba Wallace at Darlington and Kyle Busch at Nashville, sparked debate.

In 2023, while the 23XI Racing driver secured a fifth-place finish and scored well at Darlington, he was confused by a late-race call from NASCAR race control. With only 11 laps to go, an eight-car pile-up occurred right in front of Wallace. He avoided the wreck and finished in fifth place.

However, the officials allowed Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski, who were directly involved in the crash, to reclaim their spots in the lineup for the subsequent restart. As a result, Wallace was demoted to ninth place in the running order.

This year at Nashville Superspeedway, during the second of a record-breaking five overtime restarts, after Kyle Larson drifted up the track and clipped the left rear of Chastain's car, the latter went careening into the wall. Kyle Busch, who was on the high line, had to slow down and ended up hitting the wall as well to avoid further contact with Chastain. This caused the rest of the field to pass him.

NASCAR rules require a driver to maintain a reasonable speed during a caution to keep their position. Despite this, Busch was allowed to restart fourth. Brad Moran, the Cup Series managing director, explained that maintaining a reasonable speed depends on the track conditions at the time. They ultimately ruled that Busch was not actively involved in the incident.

To prevent confusion in the future, NASCAR has now refined its rules:

"If the racetrack becomes blocked and vehicles are unable to make forward progress, vehicles involved in the accident will be positioned Tail end of the field. The remaining vehicle positions will be determined as outlined above. While the positions of the competitors on the racetrack will be "frozen," pit lane will remain active at this time with pit road speed in effect." [via Jonathan Fjeld's X handle]

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NASCAR has issued a $50k fine to Bubba Wallace for his post-race actions against Alex Bowman's car

The penalty came down on Wednesday, following Bubba Wallace's maneuver after Sunday's street course race in Chicago. He was fined for intentionally driving Alex Bowman into the wall during the cooldown lap, in response to Bowman spinning him out on Lap 25. NASCAR said Wallace's actions breached its code of conduct.

In a related situation, Chase Elliott's contact with Daniel Suarez's car did not result in any penalties. Jeff Gluck noted that Elliott's move was simply a brake check, which the sport viewed differently from Wallace's more aggressive behavior.